Update (November 12, 2020): Please join tiny living enthusiasts from around the world for a weekend of INSPIRATION and INSIGHT with the INCREDIBLE line-up of SPEAKERS who will be PRESENTING and SHARING during the 5th Annual Florida Tiny House Festival.
2020 Florida Emcees & Live-Broadcasters:
Dan & Rachel Messick
Meet Daniel & Rachel Messick! Over the past 2 years, Daniel and Rachel have converted their van TheMessiJourney (aka – Banana Van Adventures) four times in cost effective ways. It has been known across the community as “the Swiss army knife” of vans. Their mission on the road was to empower people to regain the confidence they had as youths and simplify their lives to focus on what really matters. They have traveled 38 states and 4 countries in the van! Last year they lived in Guatemala for 5 weeks in the van to obtain a certificate to teach English across the globe. That plan has been put on hold due to COVID-19, so they are now taking their passion for DIY Empowerment and setting up shop in Oregon. They will be doing everything from full builds to consultation in efforts to help others bring their tiny house dreams to life!
2020 Florida Speaker:
Jo-Anne Peck
Saturday (1:15PM)
Jo-Anne Peck is a licensed Florida Building Contractor and Historic Preservation Consultant. Starting in 1999, she began working on the Tampa Interstate Study project which involved the relocation and renovation of 64 historic buildings within Ybor City, Tampa Heights, and West Tampa. Having realized her ultimate preservation project, she and her husband took a side path and created Historic Shed, a custom outbuilding design-build company that creates attractive garden sheds, garages and cottages that complement historic homes. Ms. Peck has an undergraduate degree in Building Science and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation. She has found designing and building little structures more fun than expected.
2020 Florida Speaker:
John Kernohan
Sat & Sun (2:00PM)
John is the co-founder, along with his wife Fin, and the Chairman of the United Tiny House Association. John and Fin are two of the truest examples of the tiny house movement… living full-time for almost 9 years in their DIY, off-grid 304sqft Beloved Cabin and the owners of their 16-acre Beloved Cabin Tiny House Homestead & Stay. They also own their World-famous towable Tiny Firehouse – Station No. 9, a second towable tiny house they call “Rocco”, a 14’ yurt, a skoolie, and they are currently building a tree house with a grain silo. John is a known DIY and re-purposing expert, and as an off-grid specialist. He is also a tiny house and affordable housing advocate, and has been invited to speak at colleges and events around the Country, as well as with local state and Federal governments… including HUD in Washington DC… on the subjects of affordable housing solutions. John and Fin have been featured on HGTV, The DIY Network, Apartment Therapy, Hobby Farms, TODAY, The Rachel Ray Show, AOL, Yahoo, and MANY other media outlets around the World.
2020 Florida Speaker:
Robin Butler
Saturday (11:45AM)
Robin Butler is the CEO of NOAH, a third-party inspection & certification company. He is co-chair of an ICC (International Code Council) subgroup working to recognize Best Practices and Innovation in Code Administration. He has presented to hundreds of Tiny Houser’s and has always proven to be informative & enlightening.
2020 Florida Speaker:
Brenda Mason-Parmelee
Sunday (12:30PM)
Brenda Mason Parmelee of SmallerLivingHugeLife.com is a Public Speaker, Best Selling Author, Downsizing Consultant and Smaller Living Advocate. She downsized from 3100s.f. to 310s.f. in 31days to her mostly off-grid converted motor-coach 5+ years ago. Brenda knows regardless of the size of your home, “You also can Create Your Clutter Free Home Oasis!” She has been there, done it, talks it, lives it… and now shares with you how to do it too. According to Brenda, “While you have to do the work, it helps to have a friend and a community to come along side you to encourage you as you take the next right steps.”
2020 Florida Speaker:
Suzy Beckwith
Saturday (12:30PM)
Six years ago Suzy was 49 and built her own DIY tiny house with the help of a few friends. Suzy has lived full-time in her tiny house since day one. She is the park manager of a tiny house community in Leesburg for the last 2.5 years and has been a speaker at numerous tiny house events. You can following Suzy at GO LIV TINY.
2020 Florida Speaker:
Pat Dunham
Sunday (1:15PM)
Pat Dunham, tiny spaces consultant and specialist, will outline ways you can live comfortably in your own small space. Her ideas work for space-challenged living environments from tiny homes to efficiency apartments to RV’s and boats. She speaks on the many benefits of living small, while offering practical advice for downsizing and useful tips for creating storage solutions. You can find Pat online at Tiny House Advisor.
2020 Florida Speaker:
Barbara Diaz
Sunday (11:45AM)
Born into a family of house-flippers, Barb was raised with a hammer in one hand and a paint brush in the other. After a successful business career and raising 4 kids of her own, at age 52 she built a 12×12 ft, 2-story dry cabin in the mountains. She also enclosed a 6×10 utility trailer into a micro-camper (Cottage Camper) where she lived with her 5 Papillon dogs while she built her dream 20ft THOW on her own. She moved into the bigger THOW in Feb. 2018 and is still finishing out the interior! Barb was instrumental in establishing a Tiny House presence at the RV park in Okeechobee, its website development & promoting the Tiny lifestyle in South Florida. She is currently Tiny House Advocate at Gracious Tiny House Park on Lake Okeechobee. Working a full time job, commuting 2 hours per day, raising Papillons & building her own THOW on weekends & afternoons, she always seems to be up to something. Barb’s construction experience, bold personality & willingness to teach others make her a natural Tiny House enthusiast.
2020 Florida Speaker:
Betty Archambault
Sunday (3:00PM)
Betty is the President of BGA School Buses, Inc. She has been in the bus business since 2008, and has been purchasing and driving school buses full time since 2010, as well as her father-in-law who has been selling buses since 1972. Betty enjoys helping people decide what is most important when searching for the perfect bus to convert to a tiny house (skoolie).
2020 Florida Speaker:
Rickey Irvin
Saturday (11:00AM)
Rickey Irvin is 61 years old and has been disabled for over 5 years. He was diagnosed with mixed connective tissue disease 5 years ago, had a heart attack and a stroke, and was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demylinating polynuropathy… and most impressively, Rickey lives full-time in his DIY skoolie. Rickey is an accomplished airbrush artist, a DIY expert and mechanic-extraordinaire! Rickey loves to share with others the benefits of living tiny while being disabled, and encourages those with also have disabilities not to give up – but rather to press on and overcome. Rickey is a true inspiration and a true example of the unique benefits living tiny has to offer!
As Rickey puts it, “I’m 61 years old and have been disabled since 2015. I have 2 major autoimmune diseases and at times I’m in a wheelchair, but I keep pressing on. Eventually I’ll be in a wheelchair all the time, but I never will allow this to ever hold me back.”
2020 Florida Speakers:
John & Shiang-ling Bissonnette
Saturday (3:00PM)
TheBhive Family jumped in!✌️
John, Shiang-Ling and their four children (a family of six!) have been on the road now for 3 years. Learning, educating, break-downs (both bus related and physically), emotional hurdles, family growth, and many other contexts relatable to human life has been part of their amazing journey. You can follow TheBhive Family on Instagram HERE and on YouTube HERE.
2020 Florida Speakers:
BeBe & Mikee
Sunday (11:00AM)
Bio TBA
2020 Florida Speakers:
Mark & Brenda Parmelee
Sunday (3:45PM)
Brenda lived single in her converted motorcoach mostly off-grid for 5 years. Then along came city man Mark, the artist, proposed in May 2020, they married in June 2020 and moved into her converted motorcoach on July 26th 2020. The adventures and adjustments of entering a mostly off-grid holy matrimony life (adding his dog too…) Electricity pops off, no running water, ‘she-made’ composting toilet, making room for his clothes… Can two people, plus a dog really live tiny? Yes!
Zoning: Live TINY… Legally!
Saturday (2:00PM)
John Kernohan, Chairman of the United Tiny House Association, will be sharing on zoning, the legalities of living tiny, and how you too can live, and afford, your tiny dream… whatever your tiny dream may be! Come listen from someone who actually lives his tiny lifestyle dream, along with his wife Fin, on their own land… and who has done so LEGALLY for the past 9 years. John is regularly invited to speak with local, state and Federal governments (both here in the US and in other countries), including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington DC, regarding affordable housing, how to make tiny houses legal, and how tiny houses are a viable solution for the housing crisis facing many people around the World. Learn how you too can become an advocate for legal tiny living, not just for yourself, but for the tiny house community on a whole. “Your tiny dream is in your hand!”
Florida Tiny Living Panel
Saturday (3:45PM)
Listen and learn from those who actually walk the tiny walk – and not just talk the talk. The owners of skoolies, van conversions, tiny houses, and other modalities of micro homes shares their experiences, expertise, adventures, trials, tribulations, and accomplishments in a humorous, personal, and inspirational sharing of themselves followed by a Q&A session. (Photo taken at the Louisiana Tiny House Festival, December 2018.)
Florida Off-Grid Workshop
Sunday (2:00PM)
John Kernohan, along with his wife Fin, are the owners of the 16-acre Beloved Cabin Tiny House Homestead & Stay the Tiny Firehouse – Station No. 9 tiny house on wheels, another tiny house on wheels they call Rocco”, a 14′ yurt, a skoolie, and a tree house built with a grain silo, shares the 9 years of trials, tribulations, successes, failures, and the lessons learned, of his and his wife Fin’s off-grid lifestyle with Natural Methane Fuel Creation, Solar Energy, Rain Water Collection, Compositing Toilets, DIY Septic Systems, Solar Thermal Energy, Wood Burning Stove Heating, Gardening, Hunting/Gathering, Re-Purposing, Humanure, Composting, Salvaging, and more, in the humorous, personal and entertaining way for which John is known for.
2020 Florida Organizers:
John & Fin Kernohan
#johnandfin
Founders of the United Tiny House Association; Organizers of the 19 for-charity tiny house festivals, including the 2020 (5th Annual) Florida Tiny House Festival; Owners of Tiny House Rescuers; Owners of the Tiny Firehouse – Station No. 9; Featured on HGTV’s “Tiny House Big Living”, the DIY Network, TODAY, The Rachael Ray Show, AOL’s “Dream Big-Live Small“; Living 8.75+ Years Full-Time in their Off-Grid 304sqft tiny cabin on their 16-acre Beloved Cabin Tiny House Homestead & Stay; DIY & Re-purposing Experts; FREE Off-Grid Consultants; Philanthropists; Full-Time Tiny Lifestyle Advocates; Public Speakers; and authors of “Tiny Talks: Communicating BIG with Love & Laughter”.
Interested in learning more about the 5th Annual Florida Tiny House Festival? Please feel free to contact us at unitedtinyhouse@yahoo.com or by calling our office at 706-623-4332.
